Griffins lost 4-1 to Aeros, and Holland hints at an NHL future for Abdelkader

The Grand Rapids Griffins can officially use a Tom Petty song to describe their record of late--they've lost 5 straight and 12 of their last 15, so they're officially "free falling." The latest defeat came at the hands of the Houston Aeros, who dropped the Griffins 4-1 on Friday night:

April 4, Griffinshockey.com: Ryan Hamilton scored twice, Joel Ward tallied three points and Barry Brust made 29 saves to guide the Houston Aeros to a 4-1 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday at Van Andel Arena.
...
Houston (42-26-2-4) grabbed a 2-0 lead before the game was eight minutes old. Just 3:02 in, Hamilton snuck behind the Griffins defense, received a pass from Ward while darting between the circles and slipped a backhand past Jimmy Howard. Ward then took advantage of a Griffins turnover deep in the zone to increase his team's cushion, intercepting a pass in the slot and quickly whipping a shot into Grand Rapids' net at 7:54.

The Griffins began to carry the play, eventually out-shooting the Aeros 14-6 for the frame and getting on the board late thanks to a tremendous individual effort by Mattias Ritola. The rookie Swede stole the puck behind the Houston net, fought off his defender while skating out and, from the right of the goal, sent a feed across that deflected off Brust and slid across the line at 17:27.

The Aeros reasserted their two-goal lead on Hamilton's second of the night and 20th of the season at 17:44 of the second period, as he circled out from behind the Griffins' net and patiently slid across the slot before lifting the puck over a prone Howard. Houston's Cal Clutterbuck administered the final blow on the power play with 3:11 left in the game, scoring on a blast from the point off a faceoff win.

Howard stopped 19 shots in the losing effort, as Grand Rapids fell to 1-9-0-1 in its last 11 games despite out-shooting its opposition for the eighth time in those 11 contests.

As the Grand Rapids Press's Steve Vedder notes, the Griffins out-shot Houston 29-23, but continue to struggle to generate offence:

April 5, Grand Rapids Press: "We're not finding the back of the net. The power play has been pretty good, we've just struggled to find the back of the net," Griffins coach Mike Stothers said. "That's the story of our lives. Nothing comes easy for us goal-wise."

Playing before their fifth sellout of the season, the Griffins were down 2-0 on goals by Ryan Hamilton and Joel Ward in the game's first 7:54 despite six shots by the Aeros against goaltender Jimmy Howard.

The Griffins, who have drawn 30,439 fans to their past three home games despite being eliminated from the playoffs, have struggled offensively since mid-March. They are 1-10-0-1 in their past 12 games while scoring two goals or less in nine of the games. But in eight of those games, Grand Rapids has managed to outshoot its opponent.

The biggest surprise of the night came from Red Wings GM Ken Holland, who was eying the players that he plans on calling up when the Griffins' season ends next Saturday night:

Because of injuries, Red Wings general manager Ken Holland, in attendance for the Griffins game Friday, said the Red Wings wanted the 21-year-old Abdelkader, a 6-2, 215-pound forward, to be eligible for the NHL playoffs. That made it a relatively easy decision to start him in Detroit instead of Grand Rapids, Holland said. Holland did say there was a chance Abdelkader could start the 2008-09 season in Grand Rapids.

"We want him to play," Holland said. "If he can play and help us, we'll keep him in Detroit. If not, he'll be better off here in Grand Rapids."

Post-game audio: Griffins coach Mike Stothers sounds more measured in his post-game commentary than he has for quite some time, and Mattias Ritola discussed his goal and his work on the Griffins' top line, alongside Darren Helm and Carl Corazzini...